I have ridden my horses thousands of miles in five western states and I have yet to hear a rider or hiker claiming that trails are "rightfully theirs."

Horseback riders and hikers have peacefully shared trails for centuries and are willing to share fire roads with law-abiding bicyclists.

It's about safety. And protecting the environment. And tying these together — enforcement.

These are the issues, ever since the first horse death from illegal mountain bikers in Annadel State Park in 1989.

The Stafford Lake Bike Park will be a training ground for wannabe daredevils on wheels. And when those skills are attained, what then?

"Desensitizing horses" to bicycles is easily done in managed meetings, but has no bearing out on trails when a speeding bike pops out at a horse and becomes the predator.

One might as well try to "desensitize" hikers and seniors from jumping out of the way of a collision.

This much is clear: for safety's sake and for the environment, bicycles do not belong on footpaths.

Equestrians and mountain bikers can sing verses of "Kumbaya" together until the cows come home, but on our public trails there is nothing to stop a repeat of the terrible June accident that almost cost a life.

Nothing, that is, unless and until the county's Roads and Trails Management Plan implements strong enforcement to protect hikers, the elderly, the disabled, young families, and horses and riders from the mountain bikers who will zip past signage, race down restricted trails, and endanger others.

Connie Berto, San Anselmo

ENVIRONMENT

Save Drakes Estero

As a Marin native and foodie, I have had a long love affair with Drakes Bay Oysters.

So it is with a heavy heart that I admit that this food should be taken off the market.

The farm's lease ended in 2012 and since then, oyster advocates have initiated a long-winded battle in court. They want to appeal the decision to close the farm and convert Drakes Estero into a wilderness area.

I am frustrated by campaigns to "Save Drakes Bay" that portray the oyster farm as a victim.

When the the then-owners of the oyster farm signed the lease decades ago, they were well aware of the fact that their business had a time limit.

Worse still, many groups involved in these campaigns advocate for environmental sustainability, yet they oppose protecting the Drakes Estero ecosystem from commercial activities.

As Doug McConnell pointed out in his Sept. 30 Marin Voice column, "not a single" estuary on the West Coast has been preserved and managed solely as a wilderness sanctuary."

The choice to place ecological interests above those of industries would be unprecedented.

The question is, what do we value in Marin — a luxury food item, only available to the elite or a beautiful wilderness area that can be enjoyed by many?

If there is any cause that Marin environmentalists should get behind, it is not "saving" an oyster farm on public lands.

We may be giving up some delicious oysters, but we would restore an important ecosystem to its pristine state to benefit the entire community.

Margot Reisner, San Anselmo

MILL VALLEY

Jackson right for council

Jessica Jackson is the right candidate for Mill Valley City Council.

While not holding a city commission seat, she is nevertheless a seasoned public servant by training and experience, and is deeply anchored in the community as a resident, parent and volunteer.

She is smart, diligent and caring. Mature beyond her 31 years, she has an intuitive grasp of process and the need for careful strategies to protect the neighborhood qualities and environmental values that so many of us have labored to preserve.

Her personal history demonstrates consistently successful working relationships and leadership responsibilities. She may be the new generation, but she is in the best tradition of Mill Valley's elected representatives.

Kathleen Foote, Mill Valley

HOUSING

'Box-like' growth

The Sept. 25 vote by county supervisors to approve high- density housing appears to have been a done deal.

The anger of the home owners, renters and drivers of Marin has been compounded by the supervisors' apparent unawareness of Marin citizens' needs.

The traffic is already unbearable. The new, yet unfinished multi-story building in Corte Madera will cause horrendous traffic clogs.

How did that large box-like project get approved?

It appears that no careful notification to Marin citizens of contemplated building projects is happening.

When the community finds out what has been pre-planned, it is too late. The latest vote as cited above is a notable example.

ln Strawberry, several years back, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary sold off multiple lots. At that time, it was intimated that this was all that would be sold.

Yet, several months ago, Strawberry residents learned that the seminary wishes to sell many more lots. ln addition, it appears that zoning regulations will be altered by the supervisors so that seminary projects can be rapidly approved without rigorous investigation of their building projects.

Some of the land proposed for sale is on a very, very steep hill.

Does no one recall the heavy rains and subsequent mudslides of Marin that brought down Highway 101 and homes in Strawberry? To permit high density in mudslide areas is a future tragedy in the making.

Charlotte Kissling, Strawberry

SAN RAFAEL

'An active listener'

As a longtime San Rafael resident, I am writing in support of San Rafael City Council member Kate Colin's campaign.

Since taking office, Kate has been active in our community, meeting with residents and attending civic functions in support of the many worthy causes we have here in San Rafael.

At every meeting or event she attends, Kate has been an active listener and has taken citizen concerns to heart by looking at how to address our community issues at City Hall.

Kate's knowledge of and service to San Rafael spans the 17 years she's lived here and raised her family. Like many parents, one of Kate's first community service experiences began with her children as a youth sports coach and Girl Scout leader.

She also emersed herself in community issues early on in her residency in San Rafael, joining San Rafael's Citizens Advisory Committee on Redevelopment for five years and later going on to take leadership roles for city committees focused on homelessness, climate change and the update of San Rafael's General Plan.

Kate has been a representative for a diverse cross-section of groups and individuals, and she has served all of us well.

This November, I strongly encourage you to join me in supporting her candidacy for San Rafael City Council.

John M. Cox, San Rafael

IMMIGRATION

Selective enforcement

For the single most bizarre comment of 2013, I nominate Carlos Alcala, State Sen. Tom Ammiano's spokesman, for saying that law enforcement shouldn't enforce immigration laws.

Do we really need to make the cops' job harder by allowing more street gangs and crime?

By the way, I know the media likes the euphemism "undocumented immigrants," but they are in fact illegal immigrants.

Get it right.

Carlo Gardin, Fairfax

politics

Wake up America

Our politicians and lawmakers are doing it to us again.

That's what's broken in our system of government — how our elected officials who represent us really aren't accountable to us.

They're treating us the way a corporations runs a business, to increase profit or balance a budget, cut labor costs.

The only difference is in this case is we're the labor costs.

They are spending money and when it comes time to pay the bills, we are the ones they look to, to take money from and to deprive us of the benefits to which we are entitled.

Like recently they want to balance the budget, deal with the shut down and the debt ceiling extension at our expense. They refuse to take other measures to look for funds to handle these issues.

It's the easiest way out knowing that we cannot do anything about it.

First is Social Security and Medicare. They keep wanting to rob us blind by using this cash cow even though we've kept demanding they not.

Well, once again, it's time to start screaming. Write your congressmen and demand they not take from Social Security.

Use other means to fund these bills. Cut the waste.

One example, we've hired private contractors to do jobs that government employees used to do. The cost is probably triple what it should be.

Joel Schwartz, San Rafael

Can we re-unite the U.S.?

I have to note that local critics of my recent letters to the editor have not denied my basic assertion, that obstructionist Republicans have made every effort to derail the Obama Administrations while simultaneously derailing the poor and middle class American's struggle to make a better life.

Instead, like their Tea Party overlords, those Republicans have bitten on the Obamacare bone with the zealous abandonment dictated by their masters.

Although ratified by the Supreme Court, Obamacare is not the only good-for-the-common-man law that Republicans have made every attempt to deny, just the biggest.

Our forefathers are spinning in their graves at the Republicans' brand of blackmail-for-compromise while the rest of the world watches.

What does this behavior say about America?

Are we still the "United" States of America or are we a collection of overtly-gerrymandered districts with nothing in common with our neighbors?

Can we still pull together to make our country move forward? Right now, it feels like our guard is down, we have no national direction or moral compass pointing our way and we are vulnerable to the evil in the world.

So shake the Obamacare bone if you must. I am confident, that law will soon be fully funded and helping the poor and sick, the government will go on and the people who stalled America with obstructionism and attempted blackmail will be judged harshly by history.

The situation begs the question: If Republicans so dislike President Barack Obama, how will they react to the first woman president?